A bar built inside a partly ruined synagogue — open sky, quirky art, bohemian atmosphere. Arrive at sunset for the photos; stay for the night.
Sinagogi is one of those bars that earns its reputation on atmosphere alone. Housed in the shell of an old synagogue in Chania's old town, parts of the building are open to the sky — roofless rooms where centuries-old stone walls frame whatever weather the evening brings. Quirky art fills the spaces that do have ceilings, and the overall effect is somewhere between historic ruin, bohemian hangout, and genuinely original bar. It shouldn't entirely work, and yet it does.
Arrive around sunset if you can. The light at that hour does something flattering to the stone and the open-air sections, and you'll get pictures that are worth the detour on their own. The crowd will be thin at that point — Sinagogi runs on Greek time and doesn't really hit its stride until a few hours later — but that's not a bad thing. It's an easy, enjoyable place to settle in early, watch the space fill up, and let the night develop at its own pace.